Founder’s account · In his own words
How this started.
Nine years unsheltered. Army veteran. This is why I built what I built.
Marco Cardenas Founder · Pathfinders for Hope
West2021 – 2022
Five cities. Nobody called back.
After COVID took my business, Diana and I drove west and called every organization that said it helped. We heard “not available” and “you’re on the list.”
Five cities. Four states. Every time the system said: not here — try someone else.
Oceanside
$48 left.
In Oceanside, with $48 left, I had a weapon on me and I had made the decision. I opened the ride app, typed the address, and the phone died in my hand.
If you are where I was — call or text 988, or see our guide to homeless shelters in Vallejo.
Point Loma
A stranger stayed until we were safe.
Twenty minutes later a car stopped. “Are you Marco? I’m your Uber driver.” I never sent the request. I told her I was going to end my life. “Give me the weapon.” I handed it over. She paid for a hotel room out of her own pocket.
- She did not hand me a number.
- She did not put me on a list.
- She stayed in it until we were safe.
That is the difference between a referral and a handoff.
Four organizations. Not one ever knew whether we made it out.
Old Town San Diego
Nobody was responsible for me.
We got stuck in Old Town for a year. The churches cared. The agencies cared. Nobody was coming, so the answer was me. I taught myself a resume and got a job until I could get off the street.
Vallejo2023
It was not me. It was the machine.
In 2023 I came to Vallejo for work. June 2024, Wilson Park: a sweep came through. I stopped using, and I have been in recovery since. I started Pathfinders for Hope in September 2024. In 2025 I surveyed 228 unsheltered men in Vallejo.
- 228men surveyed
- 3 in 4asked an agency for help and did not receive it
- 0rated their experience very satisfactory
Solano County is not short on programs; people fall out between them. Commissioner Bre Jackson heard it, and she now chairs our board.
Operation Iron Gate
That is the part we are fixing.
No handoff without a confirmed receipt. That is a no-dead-end referral system. We track everybody.
Read morePATHFINDERS FOR HOPE FOUNDER: ROLE AND ACCOUNTABILITY
PATHFINDERS FOR HOPE FOUNDER: ROLE AND ACCOUNTABILITY
The Pathfinders for Hope founder, Marco Cardenas, brings lived experience of homelessness into the organization’s design work. That experience explains why confirmed handoffs, honest limits, and follow-through matter. It does not place one person above governance, partner authority, evidence, or the choices of people seeking help.
LIVED EXPERIENCE INFORMS THE QUESTIONS
The Pathfinders for Hope founder spent nine years unsheltered and encountered referrals that ended with a phone number, a direction, or a promise that no one checked. His role is to turn those failures into better questions: Did the receiving organization respond? Does the person understand the next step? Who owns follow-up? What remains unknown?
The Pathfinders for Hope founder does not present one life story as proof that every person needs the same response. Lived experience is a source of insight. Community feedback, organizational expertise, public sources, privacy review, and future pilot evidence must also shape decisions.
THE BOARD GOVERNS THE ORGANIZATION
The Pathfinders for Hope founder works within a nonprofit led by a five-member volunteer Board of Directors. The board protects the mission, reviews risk, oversees stewardship, and holds public claims to an evidence standard. Founder leadership and board oversight are different responsibilities, and serious work requires both.
The National Council of Nonprofits explains core board roles and responsibilities. The Internal Revenue Service also publishes governance guidance for charitable organizations. Those public resources inform accountability; the organization’s own governing documents and applicable law remain controlling.
PUBLIC CLAIMS MUST STAY TRUE
The Pathfinders for Hope founder is responsible for keeping the story powerful without turning future plans into current facts. Operation Iron Gate is a proposed North Bay Pilot. Pathfinders for Hope intake is open by phone at (707) 205-7588. GATEHOUSE, our community platform, where Pathfinders for Hope does your intake, barrier review and the calls to agencies, is open now: register on GATEHOUSE. A conversation is not a confirmed partnership. A design target is not a measured result. A referral is not a housing outcome.
When an important fact changes, the page should change. When evidence is limited, the claim should remain limited. The Pathfinders for Hope founder supports the organization’s editorial standards, which explain how sources, fictional examples, pilot status, and corrections are handled.
THE FOUNDER'S JOB IS TO BUILD WITH OTHERS
The Pathfinders for Hope founder can define the original problem and organize the first design response. Hospitals, nonprofits, recovery providers, public agencies, faith communities, and people with lived expertise hold knowledge and authority that the founder does not. Each participating organization keeps control of its own services, records, policies, eligibility decisions, and professional judgment.
The Pathfinders for Hope founder must make room for those boundaries. Strong collaboration depends on specific commitments, authorized participation, and a clear way to correct misunderstandings. It cannot depend on one person speaking for every system.
THE STANDARD IS FOLLOW-THROUGH
The central commitment remains simple: no one should disappear between asking for help and receiving a clear next action. For the Pathfinders for Hope founder, that means building a process where responsibility can be named, a receiving response can be documented, barriers can be seen, and uncertainty is not hidden.
This founder story explains where the mission came from. The organization’s credibility will depend on what it builds, what partners authorize, what evidence shows, and whether Pathfinders for Hope corrects course when the work demands it.
